Friday, November 7, 2008

Quite rightly, the introduction to Jeffrey Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything begins with an account of Steingarten's attempt to train himself into the perfect omnivore. He begins oh-so-methodically by listing in order the foods that make him gag, that he simply detests, that he doesn't particularly like, and so on, and then proceeds through a narrative of how he conquers (or mostly conquers) his distaste for each offending food.

Steingarten's personal journey inspired me (though I found his hatred of falafel simply baffling!) and reminded me of my own hard-fought victory over my hatred of mustard, and the certain slow-battles to find my peace with select crustaceans and with fungi. In general, I'm proud at most of my attempts at food egalitarianism and Steingarten's essay pumped me up for new explorations BUT then, Steiny (to my knowledge) didn't have to deal with this particular Cambodian delicacy.

Porng Tier Goan -- Duck egg with baby!

Yum. I felt I took a big step in even putting my face so close to this delightful morsel. My companion half-apologized for choosing this for his snack instead of a delicious & fresh papaya salad, or nicely processed, beakless, featherless chicken skewer, explaining that he needed the "power" from the three baby ducks because he had been feeling a bit tired lately.